


One Year (I can't quite find the words to explain how I feel)

by WasteTimeandType



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, Drama, F/F, Older LGBT, People bad at emotions, Romance, Slow Burn because it takes place over a year though this isn't a very long fic, idk - Freeform, idk how turf wars ends, non comics compliant though I make a passing reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 19:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14026683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WasteTimeandType/pseuds/WasteTimeandType
Summary: Lin Beifong is asked to dance at Zhu-Li and Varrick's wedding by Kya.It starts with a dance, and it develops into more. Lin isn't sure how far she wants this to go, but things develop over the course of a year, and Lin falls, deeper, and deeper.





	One Year (I can't quite find the words to explain how I feel)

**Author's Note:**

> OH MY GOD IF YOU SAW THIS FIC HALF EDITED I APOLOGISE. I GOT CALLED FOR DINNER AND I PRESSED POST WITHOUT PREVIEW BY ACCIDENT RIP.
> 
> Anyway, this is a fic I've had kicking around for a while. I hope you like it!

The music fills the air; brass and drums melding into a upbeat sympthany and creating a lively atmosphere as the wedding guests continued to mull around.

Lin glances at her wristwatch, wondering when would be an appropriate time to leave. Weddings have always been a chore. Lin was happy enough to show her support for Varrick and Zhu-Li and have a chance to unwind for just a moment, at the very least. But the wedding drags on, and she has work tomorrow. The city's in ruins, people are without shelter, there’s a real risk of looting and the triads gaining a foothold. All in all, Lin is fairly stressed.

Whilst debating whether or not to leave, she instead decided to watch with mild bemusement as Ikki continues to encourage her nephew Huan to dance with her, when a shape moved in front of her view.

“Are you going to sit all night?” The familiar voice asks, mocking.

Lin frowns at the waterbender in front of her. “Yes Kya, I’m quite happy to sit here all night.”

Kya put one hand on her left hip and shrugged. “What’s the point of a wedding if you don’t get drunk and dance?”

“Not much if you have to get up early. This one is fine for me.” Lin replies, raising the glass she is holding before sipping the Fire Nation whiskey.

Kya snorts and grabs Lin's hands, pulling her upwards, and Lin just glares at her, which leads Kya to protest, “Come on, you stick-in-the-mud. Republic City has many cops to fall back on. Live a little. Dance with me.”

“My hip hurts,” Lin muttered, though she knew it wasn’t really going to cause Kya to back down.

“So does mine. Wow, we’re both getting old, better dance whilst we still can.” Kya said, the usual blaseness seeping through.

Lin reluctantly let herself be pulled up by Kya, who grins at the achievement. “If you insist.”

The chief of police allowed herself to sway uncomfortably to the beat at the side of the dance floor. Kya herself had no worries and is particularly happy to dance to the music with ease. Lin has not noticed anyone glancing at her, which is good, and everyone seems to be too preoccupied with their own personal wedding mini-dramas to notice that _Lin Beifong_ is currently attempting to _dance_.

The jazzy and uptempo tune finished, and the band starts to immediately play a slower number. Lin immediately moves to step off the dancefloor, but her wrist is caught by Lin. “Where are you going? You’re not too intimidated by a slower song are you?”

Lin shrugs, “I didn’t think-“

“Come on, dance with me,” Kya says, pulling her back to the dancefloor, and lightly draping her arms across Lin’s shoulders to face her. “Just for tonight, relax and don’t be the chief of police. Just be Lin Beifong.”

Lin doesn’t protest, and hoped that the warmth she felt in her cheeks is not coming out as a pink tint as she for once, tried to follow Kya’s advice as she relaxed into the music, and allowed herself to be taken away.

* * *

Weeks pass. Republic City is starting to feel whole again, with the turf wars settling down and the city is adapting to the new glow of the spirit portal. Lin’s new apartment overlooks the portal, and the light does not actually interfere with her sleep much, instead, it actually has a soothing presence.

Which is useful, considering the stress she has been under.

Accepting an offer to dine with Tenzin and his family, Korra, Asami, and friends, should be a chance to talk to someone who isn’t a police officer. Well, Mako and Bolin were going to be there but at least it wasn’t police duty.

She’s surprised by Kya's presence. She has heard a few weeks ago that Kya was back in the South Pole with Katara, but here she was, back with her brother.

“How is she? Katara, your mother, I mean.” She asked in casual conversation at the dinner table.

“Fine, really. She’s pretty encouraging of me coming to stay with Tenzin. Something-something family, something-something important.” Kya says, rolling her eyes, but her tone is jovial and typical of Kya. “How are you?”

The question catches her off guard and Lin just shrugs. “Better now that everything is sorted. Well, maybe not sorted. Better, though.” Lin says. “And you?”

“Same as ever, thanks,” Kya says. “I’m glad to be in Republic City.”

The meal is a typical stiff Airbender food, an unfussy but flavourful vegetarian meal. So everyone mingled, Bolin talking about how amazing Opal was getting at airbending and was _surely_ going to be a master soon (who eventually had to tell Bolin to stop with a bright red face), Korra and Asami acting remarkably sensibly but Lin caught them holding hands.

Kya nudges her later after the meal. “Hey, whilst I’m in town, let’s go for a drink. Or a dance.”

“I’ve had enough of dancing,” Lin says, which only makes Kya laugh in return, though Lin wasn’t sure she meant it as a joke. Kya’s laugh though did allow her to crack a small smile.

Lin eventually agrees because she doesn’t know how to say no. She doesn’t want to say no, she’s sure.

* * *

Kya, _of course,_ takes Lin to a _certain type_ of bar that caters to a _certain type_ of woman.

Lin doesn’t mind, and it’s not as if she has never stepped inside one of these places, but Kya really is incredibly predictable. She had known the waterbender since she was a child, and Kya wasn’t exactly known for being subtle.

The soft, warm light really does suit Kya, with her hair done up more curled than her traditional half-up ponytail. She’s dressed in her traditional robes, as usual.

Kya certainly is attractive. And Lin certainly doesn't mind, not really, being so obviously seduced. It's the most attention she's received in a while.

So Kya places her hand on hers, and Lin doesn’t protest when Kya leans in for a kiss.

It’s short, but Lin smiles.

“You didn’t have to take me to a lesbian bar to seduce me,” Lin says.

Kya laughs, and takes the hand to the back of the head. “Hey, I like this bar. We don’t have this many types of drinks in the Water Tribe,” she pauses, lips turning into a slyer smile, “or maybe, well maybe I really am just that obvious.”

“Hm. Like I said, then,” Lin says, but Kya kisses her again and she doesn’t protest.

Sparks fly at that moment and they don’t stop for the rest of the night, and Lin has never felt so relaxed in such a long while. They don’t part ways until the next morning, far too enraptured with anohter, and Lin hasn't felt this good for ages. And that morning, Lin is next to Kya in her bed, with the sunlight and glow of the spirit portal illuminating everything.

Kya turns to Lin, smiling. “I’ll see you around,” she says as she left Lin’s apartment that morning.

Lin knows she's perfectly happy to allow this to happen again.

* * *

It becomes a regular thing.

It’s strange. Lin has not had a regular ‘thing’ since Tenzin. And Tenzin was a long, long time ago now.

But, Lin and Kya now meet up every other day. Sometimes they go to a restaurant, sometimes they drink first. Sometimes they skip all of that.

At first, Lin knows what this is. It is a bit of fun, a welcome relief for Lin’s stress and work commitments and Kya’s boredom and family. Kya is happy to get out of Air Temple Island. Luckily, Tenzin doesn’t bother to ask where his sister goes (or, he respects her personal life to wait for answers if they are ever needed), so Lin hasn’t had an awkward conversation with her previous lover and now brother of her current lover.

Lin doesn’t discuss the nature of their relationship with Kya, though. They never sit and discuss what they are in exact terms, or what this all means in the long term, and what it could mean for the future. They are themselves, and they just simply be, even in a relationship.

Lin is too old for lengthy feelings and personal drama. She knows not to get involved too personally. Keep a distance.

She fails.

* * *

When Kya leaves the first time to go back the South Pole, Lin feels a bit bored, a little empty, and a little restless.

She finds herself snapping at Mako and Bolin (more than usual). (In fact, she hears Bolin whisper to Mako, “ _Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, grump”, who then received an elbow to the stomach from his brother, who had anxiously made sure Lin didn’t hear. She made no effort to clue them in, though she enjoyed Mako squirm in dread.)

Lin doesn’t know why she is feeling this way, not really. It’s just casual. That is what the metalbender insists to herself. Kya has her own life, in the South Pole. She hasn’t the time for Lin.

However, there's the little things she misses- the soft touches, the angry glares and the meditating that Kya does in the glow of the spirit portal. They’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of months. It shouldn’t affect Lin this hard. Lin Beifong was a powerful woman, who had gotten over previous heartbreak. She couldn’t afford to get cut up over something as impersonal as a fling from a woman, a woman she knew often had flights of fancy and disappeared all over the world, and a friend she has since she was a child.

Kya doesn’t come back for a couple of months. She has family in the Southern Water Tribe. And Lin Beifong moves on, forgets her irritability. She smooths herself out, and returns to the normalcy she felt for years on her own in an apartment, drinking tea in the morning, reading papers, working out, and then going to work to keep the city she loves safe.

That is what Lin Beifong has done, and will continue to do, for years.

So, its been weeks, and it's Lin's night off, and she hears a knock at the door. She isn’t that surprised to see that its Kya, not because the waterbender had told her she was back in the city, but since no-one else has knocked on her door at this time of day unless she had ordered takeaway food for goodness knows how long.

Kya is dressed in her usual water-tribe clothes, typically smiling and she grinned at her. “Well, you’re a sight for sore-eyes.”

Lin huffs. Kya doesn’t react to Lin's flippant response but still stares at her expectantly. “Well, are you going to let me in?” she asks.

There is no hesitation on Lin’s part as she makes way for Kya.

* * *

Kya starts to stay for longer this time. Not just in her house, but with Lin in general.

Lin Beifong’s routine of normalcy had been shattered again, and now Kya was becoming the norm again. On the nights she was free, eating, drinking and more would occur. Mornings and afternoons? They’d sometimes meet up for a walk, or simply maybe just vent about something particularly annoying.

This is one such time. “And that’s why Officer Bai had to be let go. Ridiculous fool.”

Kya looks at her and pats her shoulder in a comforting way. “As usual, your aura is particularly stressed,” she says, and moves her hands around her. “Perhaps a spa day?”

“Spirits, no,” Lin says, rolling her eyes. Spas and health clinics don’t bring her many good-feelings, as she thinks back to the chi-nonsense in Zaofu, though she could admit it might have been beneficial

Kya laughs. “Relax, idiot. There is a spa that really allows you to connect with your spiritual side…”

So Lin is worn down, and she finally does allow herself to enjoy a spa day, though she can’t say for certain that she really connected with her spiritual side. She does allow herself to be pampered, and Kya laughs at her with her mud mask (is Kya actually twelve?) so Lin bends a bit onto her face. But at that moment, she realises why Kya has wormed her way past her usual defences. This isn’t just two ladies using each other for stress relief. Kya, for whatever reason, cared that she was stressed in the first place.

Lin isn’t sure if she can handle that.

Sure, people around Lin care about her. She isn’t such a complete loner that she can’t recognise affection. But Su and her family live in Zaofu, apart from Opal. Tenzin and her have healed their previously strained relationship, and she could call them good friends, but it’s not the same. She has her officers, and they can feel like an extended family at times. Bolin practically confessed his love for her when she allowed him to have an afternoon off to have a date with Opal for her birthday (and she knows the lavabender now considers her family due to him dating Opal). Mako thankfully isn’t like that (she fears sometimes for his sake that perhaps Mako is too similar to her), but they can not talk about work when need be. Korra and Asami are fine acquaintances, but they’re too busy to have as friends.

Kya is a person of a similar age who takes an interest in the mundanities and stress of Lin’s life. She for some reason clearly likes Lin. And Lin likes her back.

And that is when Lin knows that might not be as casual, as just mutual stress relief and two women simply being friends. Lin wonders if it might get more difficult, but she doesn't have the heart to end this. It'll be fine. Lin wants this, its something just for her.

* * *

It has been six months since the wedding, when Lin first noticed Kya in a slightly different light and Kya begin her ‘courtship’ of her. Time goes quickly, Republic City heals and gets back to its groove and the spirits continue to return and make life a havoc, but also improve their lives somewhat.

Kya is sitting on Lin’s apartment floor, still situated in a meditation pose but no longer meditating. “If I am being honest, I prefer Republic City. Always changing, far more exciting locations,” Kya says. She had just told Lin that she would be travelling to the Southern Water Tribe again to be with her mother for the winter.

“Hm,” Lin says, quickly chopping vegetables in her kitchen for a stir-fry. “When do you think you will be back?”

“Not until winter finishes. It’s cold-”

“The south is always cold.”

“Alright, Detective Beifong, I know it’s cold. But the weather can be pretty drastic and I feel better staying with Mom for the entire winter.”

“Hm,” Lin says, “I hope you don’t get too bored,” She replies lazily, and continued to chuck the vegetables into the pan.

“Well, there are luckily I do have some friends down there,” Kya says. “Though there’s a lot there to miss in Republic City

“I can write to you.” Lin says, but regrets it immediately, and hoped the embarrassment she felt is not present on her face. “To keep you up to date with Republic City.”

Kya’s face is unreadable, at first, and Lin knows she has said the wrong thing. Kya doesn’t want letters, she’s sure because Kya has never wanted commitment. Everyone knows that about Kya.

Finally, Kya lets out a breath that Lin didn't realise she was holding and smiles. “Sure. Keep me up to date with any gossip.”

They have a few more days together before, and then Kya is leaving to travel to the South. On the night before she leaves Kya presses her lips to Lin’s own in Lin’s apartment before she leaves.

“I better get those letters.”

“Well, I’ve made an obligation now haven’t I?” Lin says, and Kya nods.

“Yeah, you do. I don’t want to bore to death in the cold.”

“You’ve been doing a good job of not dying in the South so far.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kya says, and waves her hand in dismissal. “Whatever. See you when I get back?”

Lin nods, and says goodbye to Kya, and her eyes linger on the retreating figure as she closes it.

* * *

Lin regretted offering to write a letter to Kya. She has no idea what to write, there are many things Lin Beifong is and a writer is not one of them. Police Reports, perhaps, but writing to entertain was never skill. Her mother had told her she was not a creative type, and she wasn’t sure if it was meant to be an insult or not because Lin was inclined to agree.

The letters she writes are mostly perfunctory.

‘ _Kya,_

_Crime in the city has been pretty consistent as usual, but less violent than it used to be before Kuvira’s attack. Overall, yes I have been taking care of my stress levels. I make sure I include in my diet more vegetables now, as per your recommendation. I do think it’s had a positive impact. And…’_

_'Lin,_

_What did I say? The Spirit Portal has a positive effect on people. I know you don’t believe in that sort of thing but it’s true….’_

_‘Kya,_

_And as I said before, I think it’s more to do with the fact that the triads have failed to build up their networks in the city as efficiently as before....”_

_‘Lin,_

_You’re such a machine, sometimes things can’t be explained so cleanly, you need to engage with your ‘other self’ more...'_

_‘Kya,_

_...You’re away with the spirits, just because I happen to be grounded...’_

_‘...You’re a lost cause for the spirits....’_

_‘...I know, but I do not believe that is a bad thing for the Chief of Police....’_

The letters continued like that, with Lin writing cleanly, formally and rigidly. It is another thing to take her mind off of work when she returns home and thinks about what to write, as Republic City grows colder and the snow starts to fall.

Two months pass, and after a long day at work, she returns to her apartment and picked up her mail. It is another letter from Kya.

Lin opens the letter once she starts to cook her meal, before stretching out along the sofa.

_'Lin,_

_The winter is cold here as usual, but there is something beautiful about it. The winter has their cleanness it doesn’t have in Republic City, with its warm lights and all. The Southern Water Tribe is beautiful. I may miss the business of Republic City, I can't deny that the Water Tribe has it charms and that I often realise how proud I am to be a water-tribe citizen when I'm back here, amongst the stars and the snow._

_You can come down, if you want. I know you’re busy with work, but even the Chief of Police deserves a vacation. There are a lot of things I can show you to make your time worthwhile. I’m still here for a couple more weeks at the very least, so you consider it. You know, enjoy life whilst you still can.'_

_Kya.'_

Lin hesitated. She was surprised by the invitation down to the south, and it hadn’t been something she had really thought about. She had visited the South with her mother to see the family, but after becoming chief of police she hadn’t the time, even though she had been asked to visit with all that Glacier Spirits festival thing that eventually fell into the Water Tribe Civil War. It was probably a good thing she skipped that

It was appealing, Lin could admit that. It had been decades since she last visited. She bet it had changed.

It was also an excuse to be with Kya outside of her home and the constraints of her police work. In close proximity, and personal. But the more Lin thought about that, there was something distinctly frightening about this possibility. A vacation was far more intimate.

However, Lin knew she couldn't really weigh the positives and negatives of going. it was too short notice. If she wanted time off, she really needed to plan months in advance. Kya was like that, never quite considering why Lin didn’t just bail on work and try and enjoy life more. But Republic City was still healing, and Lin was the best leadership authority the police had and she wasn’t going to bail just because she was stressed.

Lin picked up a pen and began to write;

_‘Kya,_

_Thanks for your offer. I am going to have to decline. It is too short notice for me to visit the South, as I have too many responsibilities on the force. I admit that it does sound wholly pleasant, but I would not be able to relax without the adequate preparations._

Lin hesitated for the next part. She already feels she has written too much, far too honestly, and she wondered if she came across as unusually earnest. There is so much she wants to ask, but it can be summed up with one loaded question: _What are we? I don’t know how to approach this relationship any longer. What did you invite me to the South for, are you saying you believe this to be something more? I want us to be more. I can’t continue to fall deeper if I know it isn’t going to end well. I’m too old for this._

Lin doesn’t write any of this however. It’s too loaded for a letter to Kya, and Lin has never had a way with words- she likes action, not poetry. So she continues the letter as she normally would, updating her on Asami’s new car project and Mako and Bolin’s antics (mainly Bolin’s) as Police Officers.

Lin’s hand hovers over the page as she contemplated how to sign it off.

‘ _I look forward to you being back in Republic City._

_Lin’._

She seals it in an envelope before she can reconsider.

* * *

Kya writes to her as normal, expressing disappointment that she can’t come, but it was fine.

Lin really was getting sick of the damn letter writing business. It was lengthy, boring and way too full of niceities that people just don’t use when speaking to each other, or at least not people they’ve known for a damn long time. It felt like one of those times Lin had to put a fake smile on and shake a politicians hand, and she rarely acted courteously for the sake of it. Letter writing was the same. Some people could most likely express themselves with a pen and paper, but that wasn’t Lin.

Kya eventually returned to Republic City. Lin found this out by letter, of course. She did not meet Kya at the docks, as Kya had her own family to meet.

Kya arrives at the door as usual, hand on hip with a smirk on her face when Lin answered her knocking. “Miss me?”

_Yes. “_ Took you long enough.”

“Winter is such a long season,” Kya says, and moved closer to Lin.

Lin didn’t move back but didn’t know what to do.

_Do they embrace?_

_Should they kiss?_

_Should I confess that I missed her a fair bit more than I thought I would?_

Kya lifted her hand and pressed it against Lin’s face.

“Are you okay?" Kya asks, looking slightly concerned.

Lin nods. “Of course,” She says, and smiles, far more genuinely this time. “I’m more than fine.”

Kya captures her lips in hers, and Lin falls, again.

* * *

There’s a part of Lin that despises Korra and Asami for having it so easy.

It’s a silly, irrational part, and Lin ignores it for the most part. She isn’t as silly to get involved in such petty jealousy over women over half her age.

Still, Lin sometimes lets herself feel a little jealous. They’re at a gala, and some rude reporter just asked the Avatar one too many questions and now Korra is in a foul mood. She notices how Korra reaches for Asami's hand and pulls it close as if it’s a safety net. It's all comfort.

Lin never really had that.

Sure, she loved Tenzin and they had a deep, passionate, relationship, but it wasn’t one based on them supporting each other. They circled one another for so long, passion and history providing much of the energy, but when the passion fizzled out there wasn’t anything to keep Tenzin there. She was upset at first, and for far too long after, but Lin can now realise that they were never going to last.

Does she want what Korra and Asami have but with Kya?

Of course not. Kya and herself are grown women and are too old for such public displays of affection, for such mollycoddling and the idea they can stand against the world together.

But, a part of Lin knows she wants what they have but alone, in the quiet nights in their bed or Lin’s apartment or whenever they go to a date. She can admit that its appealing, if they did it their own way, not shouting to the world but it remaining small and quiet.

Lin knows she's been falling for Kya for a while now, she's admitted it to herself, but now it finally hits her what she has, and what she might lose.

* * *

Kya has been a constant presence in Lin’s life for nearly nine months now.

Dinner, sex, letter, writing, and then back to dinner and sex.

It’s a rhythm Lin didn’t think she’d fall into again.

She reaches out to brush Kya’s hair out of her face one night when Kya is sleeping. It was covering her face, and for some reason that annoyed Lin at that moment. The motion, however, awakens Kya, who smiles sleepily with eyes half open. “Was the hair ruining my good looks?” Kya mumbles into the pillow.

“Well,” Lin says, trying to desperately think of an answer that feels natural, “maybe,” she says, and she is pleased when they never speak of it again when Kya falls asleep. 

Lin spends a large part of that night with her eyes open, her mind racing with thoughts, and constantly arguing with herself.

_Stupid, I’m not normally that affectionate with Kya._

_(I buy the tea that is jasmine infused because I know that it’s Kya’s favourite)_

_Kya is not that affectionate with me._

_(I remember when Kya came round with a new shirt because it reminded her of my eyes or something ridiculous)_

_Kya can’t possibly feel the same way._

_(She invited you to the South Pole)_

_What do you feel?_

_(I don’t know)_

_I am a fool_

_(Maybe so)_

* * *

Lin hates hospitals.

It had been quite a powerful explosion of former equalist weapons that some triads had been using, but one of the triads had seen it for to blow the stock up, and many officers had been knocked back, despite Mako’s bending as much of the fire back as he could, though he couldn’t do much when he had been knocked off his feet by the blast.

She had been knocked backward, and a piece of shrapnel had become embedded in her side.

The paramedic hadn’t been able to heal it on site without a risk of blood loss, she said, so she’d been knocked out and had woken up in the hospital.

Lin grimaces. Her left side was smarting and she felt exhausted and her muscles ached, but she knew she’d live and return to work soon enough. Crime didn’t stop in Republic CIty, and neither did Lin Beifong.

She spends much of the time alone, foggy from whatever drugs they put her on; though Mako, Bolin, and Opal do come by and ask how she’s doing, Opal fussing over her Aunt, Bolin telling jokes and Mako filling her in on the investigation so far.

Lin dozed lightly when she feels the scrape of the chair by her bed, so turns over to see Kya sitting there, her face unusually stern.

“Come to check on me?” She asks.

Kya shrugs. “I know I’m the best healer around. I have to see if they’re doing good work.”

Lin smiles weakly. “And your verdict is?”

“Seems good so far. Though, your aura—“

“Lin? Kya?” A familiar voice asks, and Lin straightened herself on the back of the bed as Tenzin walks in, glancing at Kya before turning to Lin; “I’m glad to see you’re okay, Lin.”

“One explosion won’t get rid of me. I fully expect to receive my pension,” Lin states with only some humour in her voice.

Tenzin nods. “I’m glad. It’s a miracle no one died.”

“I have some of the best benders around on my force, we won’t be put down that easily.”

Tenzin turned to Kya. “Kya? What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean by that Tenzin? I’m allowed to have friends,” Kya retorts.

Tenzin looks slightly bewildered, but he nods. “Understood.”

_Friends._

Lin knows it’s because Tenzin doesn’t need to know the intimacies of their relationship, and quite frankly Lin is glad he doesn’t know. But, just for a split second, Lin lets that word hurt more than she would ever care to tell.

Later that night in the hospital, Lin knows it’s because she’s fallen for Kya, fallen further than she ever meant to and more than what was sensible because surely, surely, Lin had missed her opportunity for love and companionship.

Lin is too old for love, surely, _surely_ too old for any ideas of forever.

* * *

A week later, Kya comes round to her apartment. It’s the weekend, it’s normal, though Lin had been healing off work for the past few days, wallowing in her absolute boredom. Kya has stayed away, and that had hurt slightly. She at least thought they were close enough that Kya would maybe keep her company. But maybe not.

“So, Lin, are you feeling better?”

“Much. I’ll be glad to be back on the force,” Lin says, and Kya nods, before Lin notices that Kya seems to be deep in thought.  “Kya?”

“Hm? I was miles away.” Kya says. “I’m going to go the South for a few weeks. Mom’s hurt her ankle, and she’s older now, even with her healing skills it’ll take a while before she’s up and ready.”

“Well, you must send her my best wishes,” Lin says, and she means it genuinely. Katara was always a presence in Lin’s world, sometimes filling a mentor presence she didn’t have in her mother.

“Lin,” Kya says carefully, “you know that time I invited you to the South?”

“Sure,” Lin says, nodding, _as if she could forget_ , “of course I do.”

“I wanted you to know I meant it. I wanted you to come visit me.”

“I didn’t think you were joking.”

“No, but you might’ve thought I was making conversation or being friendly,” Kya says, and looks to Lin. “I wanted to spend more time with you. But I didn’t know to approach the topic. We have a good thing going.”

“Right,” Lin says slowly, wondering where this is going, trying to keep her thrumming heartbeat in her chest. 

“I’ve always been what people called flighty. I never wanted to be tied down to one person for the rest of my life,” Kya says, hand on her hip, “but I’m older now.” 

“Right,” Lin says, “I know you’re old. I’m old.”

“We’re old,” Kya says, lips curling into a smile, “and maybe I want what everyone else has at my age.”

Lin’s heart stops. She crosses her arms, to steel herself, and tries to avert her eyes, but they always meet Kya's again, and she relents, sinking deeper into Kya's gaze. “I… know what you’re saying, Kya. I wrote many letters when you were away. But I could never find the words.”

Kya nods. “I haven’t looked at anyone else since we started our arrangement. And in the South, I missed you Lin. And I don’t want to go back to the South missing you again.” 

“I…,” Lin paused, trying to force the words out. Lin Beifong doesn’t often lay herself so bare, but Lin is tired. Tired of wondering of what-ifs. _What if she didn’t follow her mother into the police force? What if she knew her father? What if she had that family with Tenzin?_

_What if, right now, Lin said what she wanted?_

“I missed you too.” Lin forces out of herself.

Kya smiles, and so does Lin, and Lin finally knows they’re on the same page. It brings Lin a sense of happiness just like that, an immeasurable sense of relief. It's something Lin realises she has wanted, and she's just been denying it to herself because she believed it was inherently ridiculous.

Kya steps forward, and presses her hand underneath Lin’s top, where the scar from the shrapnel exists. Kya is close to her and her touch remains gentle, and she looks into Lin’s eyes. “I’m sorry I stayed away this past week, I had things to figure out,” Kya says, before removing her hand from her scar. “I might be a master healer,” Kya says, “but don’t frighten me again.”

Lin smiles sadly, “you know I can’t promise that,” and she accepts what prompted Kya’s confession: her own damn mortality.

Kya laughs, “Yeah I know that really. I accepted it a long time ago. It sometimes just takes a while for me to realise everything. I just… can’t imagine a world without you by my side, currently.”

Lin pulls Kya’s hand away from her waist and kisses her far more deeply.

It feels good to last, and Lin realises that she might just have a forever.

* * *

Kya goes to the Southern Water Tribe and says she’ll write and that Lin better write her again. 

They both agree, since making it official, that they should probably break it to Tenzin. Lin says she’ll do it, for she knows Kya’s methods won’t be the most sensitive to the situation at hand. 

She debates just writing Tenzin a letter, but then she’d have to go through with the idea of the notion that she can’t simply just write a letter to Kya.

She goes round for dinner, dressed in casual wear and her hair down.

“It’s always nice to have you Lin, but I feel you came round for a reason.” Tenzin says when the kids and Pema are out of earshot on the Air Temple grounds.

“Well- you might be seeing more of me from now on. Kya and I... are dating, officially.”

Tenzin’s mouth hangs open. “But… Kya… she’s not really...” _girlfriend material._ Kya, who likes to travel the world and _never_ settle down, wants to date Lin Beifong of all people.

Lin knows it sounds ridiculous. It sounds ridiculous to herself, even. A part of Lin wonders if it’ll last, and a part of Lin knows that Kya is older now and what she wanted back then is not what she wants now. Maturation and time changes a person, and Kya isn't the person who left the Southern Water Tribe behind to see the world forty years ago.

Lin rolls her eyes. “I’m well aware of your sister’s limitations. I have known her for a while.” Since childhood, she recalls, and she smiles as she thinks back to all their memories they’d shared together, even outside of this past one year.

Tenzin takes a while to respond, as if the gears were shifting in his head as he wrapped his mind around his ex and his sister dating.

“I’m happy for you, Lin. And Kya," he says finally, smiling.

Lin pats her old friend on the back, and they sit quietly by the dockside of the Air Temple, and Lin relishes in the feeling of contentment that she has not experienced for a long time.

* * *

Lin pulls on her smartest dress, applied a new shade of lipstick, and wonders how it could have been a year already. 

Varrick and Zhu-li were having a one-year anniversary for their marriage. Though she was sure people often celebrate anniversaries, hanging a huge gala for only a year seemed completely unnecessary, but typical of Varrick.

Kya steps out of her bathroom, dressed in a blue water-tribe style dress and smiling like normal. She had moved in her stuff after she returned from the South after a couple of weeks. Lin had joked that perhaps all Kya was looking for was an excuse to move out of Air Temple Island, and of course Kya agreed, but with a wink.

They situate themselves next to each other, and Kya straightens the collar of Lin’s jacket and smiles.

“Well, ready to blow their minds?”

Lin grimaces slightly, before saying “not really.” Though Kya had moved in, despite being together for six weeks now they hadn’t really discussed their relationship with anyone other than Tenzin and his family, who had invited them round as soon as Kya got back into town. And Jinora had politely asked if she could call her ‘Aunt Lin’, and Lin couldn’t say no which led Ikki to cheer and suddenly Lin wasn’t sure if she was prepared for this.

“Hey, there won’t be theatrics. They’ll just be blown away by me having the best looking woman in the room hanging off my arm.” Lin snorts in disbelief, but Kya cups her face. “Hey, I’m serious. When I saw you a year ago, you know what went through my head? That Tenzin didn’t know what he had.”

Lin laughs again slightly, but Kya removes her hand and places it gently on her arm. “Lin, I love you.”

Lin's heart stops. They haven’t discussed love, but that doesn’t mean that Lin doesn’t feel it. She smiles and kisses Kya. “I love you too.” 

Lin used to think she was too old for love now. That she’d missed the opportunity years ago. Lin had grown used to her solitude, and she had always been content, at least some of the time, with the life she had lived. But with Kya now, perhaps Lin realised just how lonely she was, and just how lonely they used to be. 

They don’t have a normal relationship. Lin still overworks most days and Kya can never stay in Republic City permanently. But it’s enough. Lin doesn’t mind distance and space, she’s far too independent to mind. But she can appreciate the company, and the warmth that Kya brings into her life. 

And as Kya locks her arm with Lin’s and they set to leave for the party, Lin Beifong looks back at the apartment she now shares with Kya, bathed in the glow of the spirit portal, she turns back to her girlfriend, standing there and smiling at her. 

Lin realises that maybe she has a little piece of forever.

**End**

**Author's Note:**

> I think the thing I find appealing about Kya and Lin being a couple is that they are both independent women-- I absolutely see them being able to work around the fact they have different commitments and responsibilities. Plus, they're cute.
> 
> I really appreciate feedback (please just ignore my first posting failiure)


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